Cecil Bateman was a motor engineer, living at 111 Hotham St., East Melbourne, and was one of the earliest men to volunteer, enlisting on 19 August, 1914, immediately war was declared. He had some training, three years in the College Cadets at school and some at Broadmeadows, Victoria, before his battalion left for Egypt on the A20 'Hororata' on 19 October.  

The Sixth Battalion was part of the second wave of soldiers sent in to Anzac Cove. At some itme between the initial landing on 25 April and the 30th April, Cecil Bateman was wounded, with a gun shot wound to his shoulder. He was admitted to a hospital ship, then transferred to No 1 Hospital, Heliopolis, Cairo. He was still convalescent in July. At the end of July, he on duty at base, presumably Egypt, but on 28 August, 1914, he was ill again, this time with piles and rheumatism. By then, he had left Egypt, en route to England on the 'Ascania' , but was admitted to the 5th London Hospital at Malta on 16 September, 1915.  He was in Malta for three weeks, before embarking for England on 10 October, on the 'Brazil'.

Having withdrawn from the Gallipoli Peninsula in March 1916 along with the other Australian forces, the 6th Battalion was sent to the Western Front. They fought at Pozieres in March 1916, then Ypres and the Somme over the winter of 1916-17. In 1917, they were in Belgium, and took part in the battles of Menin Rd and Amiens. Cecil Bateman, however, remained in England.

His military record does not disclose where he was until 8 August, 1916, when he was again admitted to hospital, this time the General Hospital at Harefield, Middlesex, England this time for treatment for dental caries. He was declared fit for duty on 31 September, 1916, but no further note is made of his whereabouts until 10 November, 1917, when he was attached to the Pay Corps, an appointment of only two weeks. In December, he was again detached from duty and moved to the No. 1 Command Depot in Sutton Veney. Here he remained for six months until he was sent on a course on 7 June, 1918, this time to the 5th Division Signal School, 14th Training Battalion.

He returned to Australia on the 'Aeneas', leaving England on 9 January, 1920. In 1920, the electoral rolls have him living in Fremantle, Western Australia, and working as a wool classer. He stayed there for many years, but the last entry for him was at Nedlands, Western Australia, with no address of occupation listed. He appears never to have married.